Cammie McGovern in Person

Join us on Tuesday, April 7 at 7 PM as Cammie McGovern launches her new novel, The Last Letters of Sally and Walter.

With the tenacious spirit of Major Pettigrew's Last Stand and the long-lived verve of Thursday M**der Club comes a heartwarming story of a curmudgeon and a newcomer who strike up an unlikely friendship over cutthroat Scrabble at their retirement home, outrageously starting something new in their golden eras.

As a new resident of Golden Grove, an independent living community for active seniors, Sally wants to do everything in her power to start off on the right foot. But between navigating unspoken social rules of the community and leaving two struggling adult children back at home, fitting in becomes harder than she expected. So when she sees flyers advertising the Scrabble Club, she thinks she might as well give it a try. She quickly realizes her faux pas when she walks into the library to find just one man, Walter Kretzer, who has a reputation for being "a bit intense."

Walter has taken his Scrabble club a pinch too seriously in the past, but when he meets Sally, with her golden-flecked eyes and sensible style, and discovers she is something of a prodigy at the game, he can't help but feel his fate is about to change. As he draws Sally into the world of high-stakes Scrabble tournaments, his feelings for her grow and inspire him to take a hard look at his life. When the truth about Sally's reasons for moving to Golden Grove are suddenly exposed, Walter finds himself with the gumption to make his last chapter in life the best yet.

Cammie McGovern is the author of Hard Landings, a memoir about the transition her oldest son, who has autism, made into adult services. She has also written three books for young adults, SAY WHAT YOU WILL, A STEP TOWARD FALLING, and JUST BREATHE, and three books for middle-grade readers, JUST MY LUCK, CHESTER AND GUS, and FRANKIE AND AMELIA. All feature young people with a variety of disabilities at the center. She has been widely honored for her work advocating on behalf of people with disabilities. Her books have been called “joyful, inspiring and unforgettable,” by Katherine Applegate. In addition to writing for The New York Times, Ladies Home Journal, Redbook, and other magazines, she has also written three adult novels and is one of the proud founders of Whole Children/Milestones, a resource center for children and young adults with disabilities and their families. She lives in Amherst, MA with her husband and three sons.

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